Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos!
Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

August 15, 1999

M104: The Sombrero Galaxy

Explanation:
What's going on in the center of this spiral galaxy? Named the Sombrero Galaxy for its hat-like resemblance,
M104 features a prominent
dust
lane and a bright halo of stars and
globular clusters.
Something truly energetic is going on in the
Sombrero's center, as it not only appears bright in visible light,
but glows prodigiously in
X-ray
light as well. This X-ray emission coupled with unusually
high central stellar speeds
cause many astronomers to speculate that a
black hole lies at the Sombrero's center - a black hole possibly a billion
times the mass of our Sun.